See http://www.visi.com/~nathan/bz2/bz2_13.html for download info.
Fileplanet: http://www.fileplanet.com/199116/190000/fileinfo/Battlezone-II:-Combat-Commander---Unofficial-Public-Beta-Patch-1.3--version-TA5
The major improvements of 1.3ta5, compared to pb4a are:
- Updated graphics engine that uses (and requires) DirectX 9.0c for the best balance of compatibility and speed. Hardware transform & lighting is now supported, allowing a lot of work to be offloaded from your CPU and onto your graphics card. New DirectX features like fullscreen antialiasing (or multisample antialiasing) are supported to improve visual quality.
- Various lagout bugs in network games should be drastically reduced
- Further support for Windows Vista/7 -- should fully support being installed to paths with unicode, has high-resolution icon for Windows Explorer
- Music from the BZ2 CD is now distributed with this patch, in ogg vorbis format, allowing for better performance. You can also set up a random playlist of music to be played ingame, if you copy in .ogg files to the right place and the right name. (Note: other music needs to be user-supplied.)
Note: system requirements have changed; see more in the link above. The short summary of things is that ta5 requires Win2000 or later. It requires a CPU with Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) support, as did pb4a before it. Also, a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0c with hardware Transform & Lighting (T&L) is required.
Note: There are a number of mods updated for ta5 or developed specifically for ta5. I've asked those modders to hold off on releasing them for 1 week so that people can enjoy all of the new items that ta5 has to offer. There's a ton of new options, recycler variants and new maps available out of the box.
Thanks to Ken Miller for his continued attention to BZ2, the loving support of my wife and daughter, all of the beta testers, and the BZ2 community for their continued interest in this game.
Why is this patch labeled 'Tech Alpha'?
Previous 1.3 releases were labeled 'public beta'. This is a 'tech alpha' because of the nature of the changes to BZ2. In short, because the graphics engine was rewritten to use the DirectX 9.0c fixed function pipeline, extensive work was done. From my professional work, as well as from reading about the PC Games Industry, ensuring compatibility with all of the myriad graphics cards and thousands of possible drivers is a really tough problem. Beta testers for this release have ensured that the game runs on their systems. However, we can't be sure that their systems cover the spectrum of hardware and drivers out there. If you've got a system like one of theirs, things will probably work as well for you as it does for them. If you've got a more unique set of hardware or drivers, results are not guaranteed. Until a larger community has run 1.3techalpha5 for a while, we would rather be safe and call this 'alpha.' If it works for you, great. If not, please drop by http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum and help us improve it.
-- GSH
Sounds good, I wasn't expecting it so early, Thanks
But i notced a slight error, When you said that modders should hold of the release, Did not not mean "I asked modders to hold off the release for at least 1 week so that users can get used to 1.3ta5"?
Im glad to hear about all of this, It's such a great timing too.
He wishes NO MODS AT ALL come out until after May 1st, 2009.
The stock stuff will leave you drooling in itself. :-D
Grr
it stopped the last second, ah well, I'll get it eventually
Im hoping so, I thought that stock wasn't going to be changed much.
Are there new maps?
More than Likely, I would say yes
GH:DropZone is the new map I can think of.
Also, does this overwrite 1.3pb4a? Or do I have to do a fresh install?
Fresh Install Recommended, You can install over pb4a if you wish.
Quote
Also, does this overwrite 1.3pb4a? Or do I have to do a fresh install?
As before, it can be installed over a previous install, but a fresh install is recommended.
-- GSH
I have a problem already.
I did a fresh install and stuff, and when I try to launch from the bzone file in the folder, it says this, "The application has failed to start because the side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail."
Sabre- that message appears when you have not installed the Visual Studio redist files. The installer should launch all three MS redist installers. Do NOT skip out of them; let them do their work. You can re-run them by opening up the 'Redist' folder in the same directory you installed TA5 into, and manually running them.
-- GSH
I hope everyone here has just as much fun playing the patch as i did testing it!
lol, I guess I wont spending time trying to understand C++ this weekend
I completelly missed this eventhough I've been online for .. er .. too long :)
DX9 means launching it was a 3rd party shortcut in steam makes the Steam Overlay work!
I am guessing that by the mere lack of mention about it, that my request for Shader support didn't make it in...or am I wrong?
It didnt i believe. Too complex i think, GSH isn't a full time graphics programmer :)
Compatability problems/headaches would be squared with shaders. Intel's integrated video chipsets don't do pixel shaders at all, last I checked.
-- GSH
Perhaps a scalable option then, similar to particle settings (if this project goes to TA6 or whatever it may be called, of course), where if the user selects a Shader setting that's too high, it would yell at them and set it back?
Looking forward to loading up the world with this patch... :-P
There may not be a public beta 6 so don't get your hopes on one.
Quote from: Commando on April 24, 2009, 06:40:17 PM
There may not be a public beta 6 so don't get your hopes on one.
We were told not to get our hopes up on a certain PB4 patch if I recall correctly. :P
You can do that in 1.2 as well.
True, but GSH most likely won't have the free time he had in the past. He'll have to elaborate on that.
Thanks to all who tested this patch and released it. How old is this game anyways?
A decade since it was released.
Tenth Anniversary January 5, 2010
I'm pretty sure it was released in Dec 1999.
I got it from here, but GSH would know best.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/battlezone-ii/
I'm pretty sure I bought mine in the first week of 2010, but I saw it on the shelves in December of 1999.
Quote from: Commando on April 24, 2009, 09:02:32 PM
I'm pretty sure I bought mine in the first week of 2010, but I saw it on the shelves in December of 2009.
Really.
Quote from: Commando on April 24, 2009, 09:02:32 PM
I'm pretty sure I bought mine in the first week of 2010, but I saw it on the shelves in December of 2009.
I haven't seen it in December 2009, yet. :)
Typo, 1999.
Great job.
No more lagbug, thats the only thing i wanted fixed. And it is, played a 4 player game with no laggin. It was so nice.
Plus (maxed out the settings) everything looks much nicer now.
Quick question, was the stock campaign ever patched up? Or do we still have to play in 1.3pb3 and lower for that?
:) Its narly shell, that's rite, its just that good that i said narly
There's not much of anything i noticed with performance :(, game graphic are the same and stuff but the graphics option place is all new :) and there's a new map :D. Is there any new ships or buildings???
@Steeveeo: TA5 was built more for MP than SP. You can play through the SP campaign if you want, but there are more than a few bugs. Ask TJ for a list of them.
VSMIT.
Quote from: Commando on April 24, 2009, 09:02:32 PM
I'm pretty sure I bought mine in the first week of 2010, but I saw it on the shelves in December of 1999.
There is a time traveller among us!
I tested the campaign for bugs (both scion and isdf split also)
I found 53 that didnt get fixed before shipping, but most are not critical and are mainly graphic related, so some may have been fixed. Im working on something to help with that, but im not speaking any details until a couple weeks when everyone has enjoyed the patch first.
I can't play, I load the game up, but when I type a name for myself I get an error message when I click enter.
Care to post the error message?
was that player limit increased? Now i can have up to 14 players (haven't tested that yet though)
its the same.
MPI is five players max
ST, DM, RACE, LOOT etc are 14 player i believe.
Quote from: cheesepuffly on April 25, 2009, 06:47:11 AM
was that player limit increased? Now i can have up to 14 players (haven't tested that yet though)
XD i think its gonna be hard getting 14 players all at the same time
I beg to differ, It seems there are more players i've never even seen playing, it's great.
hopefully ill catch a small bit of this "used to have to scroll down on the games list" stuff you people keep talking about
It's good I like it a lot, apart from the pilot trouble's I had this morning, but all sorted now and it's quality :mrgreen:
Quote from: Steeveeo on April 24, 2009, 10:42:00 PM
Quick question, was the stock campaign ever patched up? Or do we still have to play in 1.3pb3 and lower for that?
Played through 1-8 on the missions so far tonight, and skipped ahead to transformation. It played perfectly and didn't AV/Crash.
Not sure if you want/need any information GSH, but working on my tower:
Windows XP
Athlon 64 3700 2.2ghz San Diego
Gigabyte K8NSC 939
XFX Geforce 7600GT 256mb
2gb PC3200 ddr ram.
Controls seem a little more sensative or almost feel like automatic leveling is on, but its not. It feels a little different, but its stable so far and no problems.
First time it ran, I had 4000fps on the opening video, and 500fps on the first mission. After closing and reopening, it is capped at 60-62fps again. Not sure if that's a fluke.
I can never seem to get it to go over 60 fps anymore.
I have tried MaxFramerate = 999 in LocalPrefs.ini and it is still clamped to 60. It did work once though...
VSync is off.
VSync off in the video adapter software?
yaaay! finaly a working 1.3 patch.
already had some gg's on it and its great!
thx for all the hard work.
cheers
Quote from: Red Devil on April 26, 2009, 01:30:26 AM
VSync off in the video adapter software?
That fixed it... but I was only getting 70fps and it looks horrible without VSync so I turned it back on.
It's really weird. I'm not experiencing any of these problems with FPS drops from lighting. and I've got a 9300GS graphics card (OEM only).
VSMIT.
My FPS is massively better now, though I haven't tested in MP yet.
Quote from: VSMIT on April 26, 2009, 04:56:14 AM
It's really weird. I'm not experiencing any of these problems with FPS drops from lighting. and I've got a 9300GS graphics card (OEM only).
VSMIT.
I was before I updated my graphics drivers. Now I get no light-lag. (Thank god.)
Quote from: VSMIT on April 26, 2009, 04:56:14 AM
It's really weird. I'm not experiencing any of these problems with FPS drops from lighting. and I've got a 9300GS graphics card (OEM only).
Same here, I had some really old drivers and when I had headlights on my FPS would drop as soon as it shined on something. Installed the latest nvidia drivers (after uninstalling the previous and running a registycleaner) and the game runs as smooth as can be with headlights on :)
Yeah, i need to put vsync on too major tearing otherwise, never had this slow down even through testing so im guessing it only effects older cards/drivers, i think people will be quite chuffed with all the hard work put in to this
I locked up during lagging out due to the host, Leo I believe, logging into the relay bunker. Every time he logged in, it caused him to freeze. He logged in twice, causing massive lagging. The second time is when I froze forcing me to power down the pc.
Mortar bikes and APCs are causing patching infinite loops when killing while pathing on nonfat terrain.
As if code doesn't know they are DEAD!
A little more confirmation/testing if you needed on single player.
Mission 14(Fanning the Fire) seems a bit more difficult than I remember it in PB4a, but doable with the right tactics. It was close to impossible with my previous tactics.
Scion 6(The AAN) was probably one of the more difficult missions if you didn't get a defense up fast next to ISDF 16(Hole in One). However there is one new difference to TA5... The AI Assault Tanks know how to stay out of the range of gun towers now and will obliterate them with no damage if they have clear Line of Sight. Seeing as one of the first few waves is 4 assault tanks and after that 2 assault tanks every few minutes... this mission is a little hard if you don't hide your gun towers.
Scion 5 also suffers from this a little as the assault tanks will bombard your gun spires there as well. It just did not seem as bad and I also had mobile units helping.
Granted I'm a novice, so my skill probably isnt the greatest.
Gun towers sometimes have flashy/translucent bases. The maulers in Scion 4 do a lot of headbopping. Nothing major so far though and it may be my older drivers. AI aim seems a bit better, and they group their attack waves a little better.
Quote from: Commando on April 26, 2009, 08:52:17 AM
I locked up during lagging out due to the host, Leo I believe, logging into the relay bunker. Every time he logged in, it caused him to freeze. He logged in twice, causing massive lagging.
Commando, I got the same relay bunker funness -- I crash whenever I try to log in to one.
The relay bunker crashing people out is because terrain takes up a LOT of memory to draw at my end. I found that switching terrain detail to LOW when in a bunker greatly increases FPS and reliability.
All single player missions tested fine on my machine. Some minor graphical issues noted in my post on page 4 that I updated. With the AI fixing, some missions became a good bit harder than they were originally.
Not sure if i posted this publicly but i tested the campaign inside out and found a total of 53 bugs. some are graphic related (some of which can be fixed by adding some odf entries to objects).
Im fixing as many as i can so they can go in the the un-official expansion pack. Some however will stay where they are.
You might have to tell me where the bugs can be found so I can cross-reference them.
I'm also wondering where you found bugs? Crash bugs or just weird/funny bugs?
I had some graphical problems, but I assume that is my older driver for previous versions.
I wonder how hard it was on you on Scion 6, if hard at all :) Know how bad I am compared to a veteran.
when i download this from a fresh reinstall, erase every battlezone related program from my computer and reinstall, then install the 1.3ta5 patch, i try to log in and when i type a pilot name, it doesn't add it to the list and i cant start because i have no user name to play with and it erases all my previous data so i cant use a old file. what do i do?
You have to start again. sorry bud. old pilot.dat files arnt compatible.
Quote from: TheJamsh on May 03, 2009, 02:57:22 PM
You have to start again. sorry bud. old pilot.dat files arnt compatible.
so what should i do? fresh install or what? ive tried erasing any old files and doing a fresh install but it wont let me. and im not too hot on the computer so dont expect me to understand the technical talk.
Why the hell is it so hard to actually read what these people say?!
THEY CANNOT GET A PILOT TO ADD TO THE LIST.
Try running in admin mode?
If you're back at the beginning and want to get back to where you were, use this:
game.cheat bzwinner
Grizzly solved his problems by running in admin mode. Might work for you then as well.
Kept meaning to say that...
Thanks GSH I just dusted off my old scout and decided to take her out for a spin on the new patch.
I am impressed you are still tinkering with the old bird.
Want to say big Thank You to GSH.
I just wanted to post and say that it works on my old P3 system with a Radeon 8500 in XP. It runs really well too actually.
Downloading TA5 is easier using http://bzscrap.com/downloads/Patches/Public1.3/
I tried the Fileplanet link, but non-subscribers have to wait a long time in line, and install another download manager; I already have a decent one already called FDM. Anyways, after waiting for like over 45 minutes I got fed up and downloaded TA5 from bzcsrap. So if a file is the same as Fileplanet's version then I'd suggest getting from bzscrap? BNG.
don't see why people would download from anywhere other than BZScrap. Fileplanet hates me.
And I hate fileplanet...
And another note... when fighting bots in Team Deathmatch, they all end up on either the opposing team or the Rogue team. Essentially, Humans vs Bots is automatic. Slaughter :lol:
hello everybody ..
i have a small problem:
i have the 1.3 techalpha5 - version...
and when i start it this shield came:
---- Battlezone II Log File ----
//=====================================================
App version: Patch 1.3TechAlpha5 Apr 23 2009 13:36:08
Windows version: Windows Version: 5.1.2600 'Service Pack 3' PlatformID=2
Last few battlezone.log lines (may or may not be relevant):
ERR | vid:256 |19:18:34|4406 |Bitmap::Create
ERR | vid:259 |19:18:34|4406 |.\bitmap.cpp(293): failed with DX Error 0x8876086C(-2005530516) == 'D3DERR_INVALIDCALL'
ERR | ConsoleHelper:28 |19:18:34|4406 |DX Error(0x8876086C) noted.
DIAG| bitmap:297 |19:18:34|4437 |D3DXCreateTexture(0x00000000, 256, 256, 1, 0, 21, MANAGED) FAILED, dxError = 0x8876086C
(done)
Exception code: C0000005 (ACCESS VIOLATION) READING from 00000000h
Message : Exception
Error occurred at 9/4/2009 19:18:36.
C:\Programme\Battlezone II\bzone.exe, run by Joe.
C:\Programme\Battlezone II\bzone.exe, run by Joe.
CPU: 1 processor(s), Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.46GHz
x86 Family 15 Model 6 Stepping 5
Process Memory : 1938 MB free out of 2048 MB total
Physical memory: 67 MB free out of 191 MB total
Page(swap) file: 330 MB free out of 465 MB total
This exe is using 27 MB, peak use 27 MB
Fault address: 00597ADF 01:00196ADF C:\Programme\Battlezone II\bzone.exe
Registers:
EAX:00000000
EBX:033792CC
ECX:00000001
EDX:7C91E514
ESI:7FC60120
EDI:00000100
CS:EIP:001B:00597ADF
SS:ESP:0023:0209FE28 EBP:0337FA28
DS:0023 ES:0023 FS:003B GS:0000
Flags:00010212
Call stack:
Address Return Function SourceFile
00597ADF 00000000 005963D1 Font::Read+0x000002AF
005963D1 00000000 005A4513 FontSys::Create+0x000000F1
005A4513 00000000 0044969A IFace::Init+0x000000E3
0044969A 00000000 00449606 HandledMain+0x0000044C
00449606 00000000 00449343 HandledMain+0x000003B8
00449343 00000000 00446BDF HandledMain+0x000000F5
00446BDF 00000000 0057B90F WinMain+0x00000059
0057B90F 00000000 7C817077 fabs+0x00000191
7C817077 00000000 00000000 RegisterWaitForInputIdle+0x00000049
i dont know the problem... someone could help=?
That's a DirectX error. I'd recommend doing the following:
1) Make sure you run the DirectX installer that 1.3ta5 bundles. You can re-run it w/o reinstalling 1.3ta5 by going (via Windows Explorer) to the folder you installed 1.3ta5 into, then look in the Redist folder, then the DX9 folder. There's a 'DXSETUP' exe in there you can run. Some people need to reboot after doing this, not sure why.
2) Make sure you've got the latest drivers for your graphics card. If at all possible, do not use the drivers Microsoft hands out. Use the drivers from the video card manufacturer (if a desktop), or the laptop maker (if a laptop). If you post details on your graphics card, and your OS, we can usually point you to where to grab the latest drivers.
-- GSH
Oh, someone ban this dude and erase that post.
Ah man, how did a bot get into BZU? i thought we were still vounching?
It hit BZ2MD too, identically, but VSMIT noticed both right away and alerted me. I cleaned up the BZ2MD instance and banned the Username, email, ip, and hostename.
there used to be a way to mute users. is that option still around?
We need a moderator in Europe...
shotgun
しまった！
I was up until just a few minutes before that bot posted. Stay on the look out guys and notify me or any other mods online. Try to contact an admin once one comes online.
When no mod was online I reported the 3 posts via the SMF report post to ensure everyone who could do something would know the instant they checked their email. =
What was the bot's name?
Got it. You guys need to notify me when you spot one of these. Added IP Ban to it.
Edit: Just now saw the reporting e-mails. Please use PM, even if I am offline.
So, was it a new bot that got through somehow or was it an older bot that slipped in long ago and only now went nuts posting?
-Av-
New. Had registered about a week before it posted, IIRC.